St Mary's end 46 years of pain

JUNIOR B FC FINAL

St Mary's ...................2-2-5 (15)

Moynalty ..................0-1-11 (13)

Forty-six years since they last tasted championship success St Mary's will once again play junior football following their thrilling Junior B FC final victory over Moynalty at Pairc Tailteann today.

The heartbreak continues for Moynalty as this was their third successive final defeat and their sixth since 2009. They will reflect on this decider as one that got away.

Moynalty were the dominant force in the opening half as they steadily built up a 0-7 to 0-1 lead. St Mary's struggled to rediscover the form that had seen them enjoy such a fruitful year, but after the break they were a revelation.

Central to that improved second period was the half-time appearance of Sam Victory. Within four minutes of the restart Victory rifled the ball to the net for his side's second goal and they never looked back.

With the benefit of 140 training sessions in their legs and with an average age of just under 22 years St Mary's got their noses in front and never looked back with Cathal Sheridan also providing the inspiration with a stunning two-pointer on the three-quarter mark.

It was Sheridan's goal in the 28th minute that dragged the Donore men back into a game that looked to be getting away from them.

Scores were hard to come by in an entertaining, but error-ridden contest. Paddy Byrne opened the scoring for Moynalty in the sixth minute and two minutes later he doubled the lead when he capitalised on a loose ball after Adam Byrne had saved Bryan McCormack's effort.

John Brogan made it 0-3 to 0-0 in the ninth minute and even when Caimin Hughes pulled one back for St Mary's the steady one-way traffic continued to flow towards the hospital end as Joey Gilsenan ensured a 0-4 to 0-1 first quarter lead.

A trip on Dylan Farrelly led to a point from a free for Ollie Sheridan and in the 20th minute McCormack stretched Moynalty's lead to five before Sheridan penalised dishevelled St Mary's for not keeping three in attack to make it 0-7 to 0-1.

Andy Brien's converted free stemmed the tide, but in the 28th minute that tide turned when a rare stray kickout by Johnny Lynch was won by the unmarked Cormac Victory and following a slick passing move involving Dylan Bagnall and James Lynch it was Sheridan who finished clinically under the advancing Johnny Lynch.

McCormack replied with a point for Moynalty, but St Mary's were back in the game and they closed the gap to 1-3 to 0-8 at the break with a Brien free that was moved to in front of the posts because of dissent.

Rattled Moynalty were punished for more indiscipline 90 seconds after the restart when Ronan Lynch fouled Brien. Brien tapped over the free and two minutes later he saw another free come back off the upright and into the waiting arms of Sam Victory who powered his shot to the net to give his side the lead for the first time, 2-4 to 0-8.

Johnny Lynch converted a free to end Moynalty's barren spell that stretched 17 minutes either side of the interval, but a two-pointer from Sheridan pushed St Mary's three clear and even though McCormack kicked a two-pointer, which bounced over the bar from distance, there was a sense that the wind was gone out of Moynalty's sails.

A superb score from out on the right from Brien made it 2-7 to 0-11 in the 49th minute. McCormack kept Moynalty in touch, but St Mary's looked the more threatening side with Moynalty scrambling the ball off their own line and Johnny Lynch forced into a fine save just after Hughes had landed a booming two-pointer for St Mary's to make it 2-9 to 0-12.

Moynalty threw everything forward in search of a reprieve, but they struggled to find a way past the tight St Mary's rearguard.

Byrne was denied by an inspirational block by Ben Loughran and even though Byrne did land a late free there was no recovery for Moynalty as St Mary's held on to end 46 years of pain.

St Mary's - Adam Byrne; Liam Lynch, John Spain, Cormac Victory; AJ Bradshaw, Dylan Bagnall, Maithiu Brien; Joey Greene, Tadhg Dixon; Ben Loughran, Cathal Sheridan (1-2 one two-pointer), Caimin Hughes (0-3 one two-pointer); Andy Brien (0-4 three frees), Sean Nulty, James Lynch. Subs - Sam Victory (1-0) for Nulty half-time, Conor O'Brien for M Brien 39m, Andy Everard for Spain 54m, Adam Craven for Bradshaw 62m.

Moynalty - Johnny Lynch (0-1 free); Ronan Lynch, Liam Brogan, Richard Gilsenan; Dylan Farrelly, Adam Reilly, Joey Gilsenan (0-1); Niall O'Connor, Sean MacMahon; Jude Gilsenan, Paddy Byrne (0-3 one free), John Brogan (0-1); Paul Lynch, Bryan McCormack (0-5 one two-pointer), Ollie Sheridan (0-2 frees). Subs - Cathal Donoghue for Jude Gilsenan 50m, Cormac Kearney for Farrelly 55m, Kian Lynch for O Sheridan 57m.

Referee - Adrian Corcoran (Drumbaragh).